into which the colony was divided by the Act. The arrangement between the New Zealand Company and the Otago Association was consequently brought to a close, and no further additions could be made to the estate held by the Presbyterian Church Trustees "for religious and educational uses." The duty of providing the means of education within the newly-formed Province of Otago was left to the Provincial Government, in whom the administration of public affairs was now vested. This duty was taken up so heartily by the Government and the Provincial Council, that the Church authorities very wisely resolved to refrain from maintaining rival denominational schools.
No agreement had yet been come to regarding the proportion of the Presbyterian Church endowment that should be appropriated to educational, as distinct from ecclesiastical uses, and after full discussion of the question, a general willingness was expressed by ministers and members of the Church that some definite proportion should be devoted to educational purposes, from which not the Presbyterian Church alone, but the whole of the community, should derive benefit. It was agreed that the proportion should be one-third, and in 1866, the "Presbyterian Church Lands Act" was passed by the Colonial Parliament, providing that two-thirds of the clear annual revenue derived from the endowment, should be devoted by the Synod of the Presbyterian Church to ecclesiastical purposes in Otago and Southland,[1] and that the remaining third should be applied by the Church Trustees to the erection and endowment of a literary chair or chairs in any college or university that might be established in the Province of Otago. The funds thus placed at the disposal of the Trustees have enabled them to establish three professorial chairs in the University of Otago, viz.—Mental and Moral Philosophy, 1871; English Language
- ↑ The purposes specified by the Act are as follows: "Building or repairing of manses and churches in the Provices of Otago and Southland, and endowing or aiding in the endowment of any Theological chair or chairs in connection with the Presbyterian Church of Otago in any College or University which may hereafter be erected in the Province of Otago, or any or either of such purposes according to regulations that may be prescribed from time to time by the Synod of Otago and Southland."
